Rhythmicon demonstration

THE RHYTHMICON is the first rhythm machine, which was built by the Russian inventor Leon Theremin in the U.S. in 1931. It was commissioned him in 1930 by the avant-garde American composer and theorist Henry Cowell. The project was supported by Charles Ives and realized in collaboration with Russian composer and theorist Joseph Schillinger. Each of the 16 basic rhythm pulsations available in the Rhythmicon could be produced individually or in combination, forming almost innumerable possible rhythms. It is the third version of the instrument, which was built in the early 1960s at Moscow State Conservatory. It was made of odds and ends since in the USSR in the 60s electronic parts were not readily available - inventors had to steal or salvage them. Andrey Smirnov collection. Moscow, 2005.